So I have to ask, why isn't there more emphasis on keeping fans & heatsinks clean of schmegma for laptops?
Let me explain why I'm bothered by this.

For the past few weeks, I noticed my laptop running hotter & hotter. As of last night (before I cleaned out my heatsink & fan) the laptop was running about 118 degrees. After some minor labor, and a few q-tips, I booted back up and overall, I'm averaging 18-23 degrees cooler running temps.

Being such vital components for a laptop, you would think there may be some mention of keeping them clean in my manual? nope. This kind of surprises the hell out of me. Had I not cleaned it, it may have eventually caused some serious problems, maybe even the failure of the laptop itself.

Do laptop vendors purposefully not mention this because they don't feel the average user will bother? and/or have the mental capacity to do it? I don't know. Just seems like bad practice to not even mention it.

March 29th, 2007, 09:34 PM

Aardpsymon

welllll....... my experience of users poking at fans is that it results in unbalanced fans that fail even sooner. I have not seen mention of cleaning fans in a desktop manual either.

March 29th, 2007, 11:17 PM

nihil

I must say that I have noticed a deterioration in the quality and content of operating system and PC documentation over the years.

Apart from cost savings there seems top be a general assumption that users actually know about computers? :eek:

Isn't there an electronic manual.............not that most users would read it:D

March 30th, 2007, 08:52 AM

Aardpsymon

I'm different from most users, I would print it out then not read it. ;)

March 30th, 2007, 10:47 AM

acidtone

I have made it a habit of cleaning out the various areas in both my desktops and laptops on a monthly basis.

When i was running a computer repair shop back in the day i would make sure before the customer picked up the computer that it had been given a good cleaning.
Then when it was picked up i would give the customer a few quick pointers on how to keep it clean, and also provided a few cleaning products for free.

i found a happy customer would get me more customer's, and they would also come back in the future..

and i also agree the product manuals these days are pretty crappy, and most of it ends up being in chinese :rolleyes:

bring back the old days where the manual was as thick as the dictionary and just as heavy. :D

cheers
acidtone..:)

March 30th, 2007, 03:39 PM

bballad

computers (desktops esspicaly but laptops as well) are seen as commodity items. To the companies that make them they are disposable devices, ment to be used for a year mabey two and then replaced. Why would they want you to bother maintaining something that they want you to replace in two years?

March 31st, 2007, 12:27 PM

nihil

Quote:

Originally Posted by bballad

computers (desktops esspicaly but laptops as well) are seen as commodity items. To the companies that make them they are disposable devices, ment to be used for a year mabey two and then replaced. Why would they want you to bother maintaining something that they want you to replace in two years?

Well, in cases where a failure to do so might significantly increase the probability of a warranty claim. If they don't advise you to do or not to do something, they would have little or no recourse in consumer law.

The market is slightly more complex that that though, as major retailers tend to take on the warranty themselves and get the equipment at a lower price as a result.............they would presumably have a different business model from the OEM?

What does surprise me is that the big retailers and direct sales OEMs make a lot of money out of selling "extended warranties". I would have thought that it would be in their interests to include housekeeping instructions in the deal, as that would help to maximise profits on the warranty side of the business.

For a number of years I worked for a major electrical retail chain, and I can tell you that well over 50% of the "bottom line" came from sales of extended warranties ;) Actual equipment sales are relatively low margin.